Strengthening Coparenting Relationships to Improve Strained Parent–Child Relationships: A Follow‐Up Study of Parents’ Experiences of Attending the Overcoming Barriers Program

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12405
• Date: 01 April 2019
• Published date: 01 April 2019
• Author: Michael Saini

STRENGTHENING COPARENTING RELATIONSHIPS TO IMPROVE

STRAINED PARENT–CHILD RELATIONSHIPS: A FOLLOW-UP STUDY

OF PARENTS’EXPERIENCES OF ATTENDING THE OVERCOMING

BARRIERS PROGRAM

Michael Saini

Several interventions have been developed to address children’s resistance and/or refusal to have contact with a parent follow-

ing separation and divorce. There remains little agreement about how best to evaluate the success of these approaches. To

explore the experiences of parents in the Overcoming Barriers Program (OCB), an online survey was distributed to all previ-

ous participants. Of the 40 parents who completed the survey at least six months after attending OCB, findings suggest mixed

results. Benefits of OCB were more pronounced when changes were made to the coparenting relationships. Improvements in

the coparenting relationship were specifically related to children’s spending more time with both parents and better parent–

child outcomes postintervention. Findings suggest that both the quality of parent–child relationships and the time that the

children spend with both parents are associated with reported improvements in the cooperative coparenting relationship as a

result of attending OCB. Implications are discussed in terms of lessons learned for developing, delivering, and evaluating

similar programs for strained parent–child relationships.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:

The purpose of this follow-up survey was to explore the experiences of parents who had previously participated in

the Overcoming Barriers Program (OCB).

Almost half of the participants stated that OCB did not meet their expectations that they had prior to attending the

program.

Over two thirds of the participants described improvements in their views about the importance of children having a

positive relationship with both parents and their understanding about their own contributions to the strained parent–

child relationships.

Overall positive improvements in strained parent–child relationships were noted.

Improvements in the coparenting relationship were staticallyrelated to children spending more time with both parents

and better parent–child outcomes postintervention.

Keywords: Alienation; Child Custody; Intervention; Parent; Child Relationships; Separation and Divorce; and Survey.

I. BACKGROUND

In high-conflict child custody disputes, there is g rowing concern about the challenges of strained

parent–child relationships following family breakdown (Saini, Johnston, Fidler, & Bala, 2016). Yet, the

relationship between high-conflict and parent–child contact problems, including alienation, is not yet fully

understood (Polak & Saini, 2015). Parent–child contact problems can be conceptualized on a continuum

from positive and healthy to negative and pathological (Fidler, Bala, & Saini, 2013). These cases, also

referred to as involving resist/refuse dynamics (RRD; Walters & Friedlander, 2016), are complex, multi-

faceted, and not determined through linear pathways of causation (Polak & Saini, 2015).

Although all alienation cases involve high levels of conflict, not all high-conflict cases involve

alienation or parent–child contact problems (Birnbaum & Bala, 2010; Fidler, Bala, & Hurwitz,

2013). Although it is common for separating parents to exhibit parental alienating behaviors to

some extent, not all children exposed to parental conflict, bad-mouthing, or undermining will

respond by resisting or rejecting a parent (Johnston, Walters, & Olesen, 2005b). This means that

Correspondence: michael.saini@utoronto.ca

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 57 No. 2, April 2019 217–230

© 2019 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts